Five Seconds to Venus
by UnluckyAmulet
Summary: Kyori Aida is ready to become a Pro. It's what she's always aimed for. But U.A is no ordinary school and she does not have ordinary classmates. You enter to become a hero, but it's possible to gain - and lose - so much more than that. OC-fic!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia!

I know, original, another OC story. I've been meaning to write this for a while now but I never did get around to it, but hopefully Kyori's story will be worth the waiting time.

A quick note on the title - so I agonised over what to call this fic and I was looking up teleportation in fiction and apparently one of the earliest mentions of it was a novel by Edward Jane titled, "To Venus in Five Seconds." And yes, I know it sounds like I'm cribbing off Five Seconds to Mars, I honestly didn't even think about the band until my friend pointed it out, so apologies for any confusion and this is not going to be a songfic. By the way, Kyori will be replacing Rikido Satou in this fic, but I doubt you'll notice he's not there, honestly.

Yes this is Kyori in the preview pic, which was a commission from magicalmeatman on tumblr. :D

On another note, this will be Canon x OC eventually, however I haven't actually decided what the endgame pairing is going to be yet. I guess that will decide itself as time goes on. :D

Enjoy!

* * *

How was it, that you could be surprised by something you'd waited so long for?

But as Kyori Aida stood before the UA building, which glittered like a colossal diamond in the early spring sunshine, the windows catching the light, she found herself holding her breath for a moment, just drinking in the sight. She'd seen pictures and TV footage of it, obviously, but seeing it in person was somehow completely different. It was perhaps a little melodramatic to say, but it was probably the same thing to seeing a famous building or work of art - you had to really experience it yourself to appreciate it properly.

This was it. It seemed like a cliché for that 'first day of the rest of your life' thing, but there was a grain of truth in it, nevertheless. Everything began here at UA. It wasn't uncommon for kids who hadn't even finished their first year to be flooded with offers to work as sidekicks for seasoned Pros if they were suitably impressed and saw real potential in them. On the flipside, if you screwed up and flunked out of one of the most prestigious schools in the country, the mistake could ruin your entire life.

_No pressure or anything._

Kyori narrowed her eyes, looking up at the building with a glint of determination flickering in violet depths. How many great Pro heroes who protected Hosu and beyond from disaster and villains alike had started out here, those first tentative steps the very first in their journey?

Now, she would do the same thing. She took in a breath and crossed the threshold.

Time to meet the heroes.

* * *

She didn't like to admit it, but nerves were gathering in the pit of her stomach like a nest of snakes as Kyori approached the classroom where she'd hopefully be spending the next three years. It wasn't difficult to spot - there were already people gathered inside, chattering away like they were old friends. Perhaps they were, it was likely a few of them had grown up in the same neighbourhood. Becoming a Pro was a popular career choice, after all, especially these days with more idols to look up to than ever before. Kyori was relieved that she didn't recognise anybody, though, and decided to give herself a minute to try and get a read on them.

They were certainly a colourful bunch. One boy was gigantic, with multiple arms and a mask pulled up over his face, there a girl with bright pink skin and horns, another who bore more than a passing resemblance to a lizard. With only two exceptions, though, they all had something in common.

All of them were taller than her.

Kyori huffed through her nose, exasperated. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up, thinking there was a chance she would at least pass for average. She'd been small in middle school and it looked like she would be here, too. She was unfortunate that so far, her mother's height seemed to have either skipped her or was being very slow to make itself known, but at least there was one thing that stopped her looking like a middle-schooler - though clearly the winner for bust size was the tall, dark-haired girl she knew was Momo Yaoyorozu, Kyori wasn't far behind her. Ultimately, though, she fell in the middle of the pack when it came to looks. She didn't have any outstanding physical attributes like extra limbs or horns or a tail, so she didn't stand out there. Her colouring was admittedly a little unusual, pale-skinned with dark green hair that held a faint shimmer to it (a pale imitation of her mother's) and sharp-looking violet eyes, but that was about it.

"Oh!" a bright tone said, making Kyori jerk and look around. "Hey, another new classmate! I'm Mina Ashido! What's your name?"

The pink-skinned girl was talking to her and she might have looked a bit unsettling with those black sclera and golden irises, but her smile was friendly and body language enthusiastic, practically bouncing with excitement. Kyori immediately found herself wondering what kind of Quirk she had and if they related in any way to her distinctive looks.

"Kyori Aida," Kyori said, knowing that Aida was a common enough family name that it probably wouldn't mean anything to them - it wasn't like her mother went around advertising her civilian name, but she still found herself pausing after she said it. There was no reaction and Kyori felt a guilty rush of relief. While she knew that her mother meant well, sometimes having a Pro Hero as your mother felt a bit like a weight around your neck.

"Oh, another A name!" Mina said, sounding positively delighted about this. "You'll be with me and Aoyama, then!"

She gestured to a blonde boy sitting behind her, who opened his mouth to speak, but before he got so much as a word out, a rumbling voice suddenly cut over the chatter.

"If you're just here to make friends, then you should just leave."

A man was standing in the doorway, all heads turning to stare at him. He was watching them with about as much interest as a sloth, with bloodshot eyes. He hadn't bothered to shave and...was that a sleeping bag? He looked like a homeless man who had wandered in by accident. Whispering broke out amongst the class, but Kyori merely raised her eyebrows.

_So, we have Eraserhead for a teacher? Tch. Lucky us._

Funny, nobody else seemed to recognise him. Sure, Eraserhead was an underground Pro and he wasn't wearing his signature goggles, but it wasn't like he was new enough not to have made any notable contributions or too old for people of her generation to remember. You'd think at least one person would have made the connection. Kyori frowned to herself as she followed the rest of the class downstairs to get changed, noticing that the boys heavily outnumbered the girls - including herself, there were only seven of them.

Of course, Eraserhead's utter disinterest in the students before him made sense when you took his reputation into account. Her mother had told her all about it.

_"Honestly, it's ridiculous that man hasn't been fired by now," Kiatsu tsked as she brushed her hair in the mirror, the black strands glittering like a starry sky. "I'll grant you, he's excellent at his Pro work, but teaching? He expelled his entire class last year because they supposedly 'didn't meet his standards' - I bet he just figured Principal Nedzu has allowed it so far, so he decided to lighten his workload. He'll test you too, so don't give him any reason to expel you, Kyori. Really, does he even understand what a school is for?"_

It was thanks to this warning that Kyori was one of the few students who did not gasp or even look remotely surprised when Eraserhead announced his ultimatum, with a grin that implied he really enjoyed this part of his job far too much - the lowest-scoring student in all eight test would be expelled. However, some of the others looked outright shocked and the atmosphere had soured considerably.

_Throwing your weight around, already, Eraserhead? _Kyori thought, raising her eyebrows.

"Last place will be expelled? But it's the first day of school!" protested one girl - Uraraka Ochako. "No, even if it wasn't the first day of school, this is too unfair!"

"If you wanted to hang out with your friends, then too bad," Eraserhead replied, ruthlessly. "For the next three years, U.A will do all it can to give you one hardship after another. Go beyond. Plus Ultra."

_Then what's the point of letting people pass an Entrance Exam in the first place, if you're just going to tell them no? _Kyori thought to herself. Her dislike for her teacher was only growing with each word that left his mouth. Uraraka's protest was childish, like Eraserhead was telling them they couldn't come on a field trip, but she agreed with the spirit of it. Of course, not everybody had what it took to be a Pro, but to take such glee in it? _Hmph._

At least the tests seemed straightforward enough, designed to examine all the potential skills a Pro gets ranked by – strength, speed, technique, intelligence, cooperation.

"Aida, Aoyama, you're up."

Kyori nodded and walked to the start of the track, the blonde boy taking his place as well. All you had to do was run to the finish line and hope to god you weren't the slowest one in class.

Unless, of course, you got creative.

Kyori heard the claxon sound, but unlike Aoyama, she made no move to start running. Instead, she closed her eyes and drew in a short breath.

Though she'd been using her Quirk for most of her like, she still got tingles, like someone had rubbed a balloon over her skin, leaving it prickling with static.

One moment, Kyori stood motionless at the start line, then she had vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a faint crackle of lime green, like a tiny jolt of electricity. The next moment, she reappeared by the finish line, her heels scuffing the chalk outline.

"Two seconds," the computer beeped.

Kyori glanced at the timer and for the first time that day, she looked pleased about something – that was shorter than the last time her Quirk had been timed. She figured she'd probably rank quite highly in the speed score, but she wasn't feeling too good about the strength test, it had never been her strong suit, so to speak. But she did her best to keep her unease off her face and hurried to the next test, where the boy who had made the baseball explode was flexing his fingers in anticipation. No question he wasn't getting expelled.

Though she kept her focus on the tests, Kyori had also been watching Eraserhead as he observed the others. Though he didn't give all that much away, especially with half his face obscured by the scarf draped around his neck, she'd noticed his gaze narrowing on the one boy who had yet to use his Quirk and was flagging pitifully behind. If he was going to throw anyone out on their ear, Kyori would put money on it being him.

Having said that (well, thought that), Kyori made sure not to let her guard down – Eraserhead could easily cut away any other underperforming students he wanted and apparently he could do so without contestation. She wouldn't fall into that trap!

It was only when the ball test was nearing the conclusion that Eraserhead finally made his feelings plain. Gasps made Kyori whip around to see him ensnaring the green-haired boy, Midoriya, in his capture weapon, as if he were a villain. He'd…erased his Quirk?

"Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone save you?" the question landed like a lead weight between them and Midoriya.

"Th-that's not my intention…"

It was almost painful to watch, like a rabbit cowering before a wolf as Eraserhead dragged him closer, his words cutting into the boy. The rest of the class were watching, no doubt just as startled by this public display as Kyori herself was. When Midoriya turned, tears streaming from his eyes and sending the ball hurtling through the sky in a cloud of dust, it was like all his terror had compressed into a single action and burst out of him.

"Wow! Finally, a hero-like record!" cheered Uraraka beside Kyori, who shot her a look of annoyance. Did she have to be so enthusiastic about everything?

_And what do you think we were all doing? We managed to finish everything without breaking our fingers._

"DEKU, YOU BASTARD!" roared a voice, and suddenly the blonde boy – Bakugou – was racing towards Midoriya, hands crackling with fire as if he intended to send him rocketing into the stratosphere like he did to the baseball. Kyori would later claim it was gut instinct, but the truth was, she recognised the look in Bakugou's eyes just then and a thought popped into her head;

_They're…rivals?!_

Again, Eraserhead's scarf whipped out and restrained the outraged blonde, like you'd leash a dog. The tendrils disappeared back to his neck a moment later and he grumbled about getting dry-eye. Finally, with those eyes burning like twin sun, it seemed a few people realised who he was.

On and on the tests went and the class seemed bolstered by the earlier display, like if Midoriya could pull off a move like that, then maybe they could as well. It was afternoon by the time Eraserhead announced in his usual bored drone that it was time to announce the scores. A ripple ran through the gathered teenagers and Kyori found herself straightening her back, like that would fool anybody into thinking she was taller.

The screen flashed up, displaying the names in neat rows. Kyori's eyes quickly scanned over them. As she suspected, she wasn't at the top (nor was she surprised at who was), but she was nowhere near the bottom either. A small sigh of relief escaped her – she could only imagine what her mother would say to learn her daughter had failed something as basic as Quirk assessment.

Now, however, people were glancing at Midoriya, who as predicted was at the bottom of the list. He looked like he was waiting for the executioner's axe to fall…

"By the way, I lied about the expulsion," Eraserhead, nonchalantly, once everybody had gotten a good look at the glowing screen.

"WHAAAAT?!" the class cried, almost in unison.

"It was a logical ruse, so you're give it your all!" he said, with that same grin from before.

Talking erupted from the gathered students, some of them looking positively shell-shocked from the revelation.

"I thought that was obvious," commented Momo, hands on her hips. "Sorry, I guess I should have said something."

Kyori, though, wasn't feeling quite so elated. She had been expecting the Midoriya boy to be thrown out, but it wasn't that that was bothering her. No, this was about something else. Eraserhead instructed Midoriya to see Recovery Girl (again) and dismissed the class, leaving without another word. She watched him go, her lips pursed slightly.

"Liar," Kyori said, after Eraserhead had shuffled off around the corner. She said it a bit more loudly than she meant to.

"Huh?" the electricity-user Kaminari piped up, blinking.

Kyori nodded in the direction Eraserhead had gone, seeing no reason not to mention it to the others.

"Eraserhead just lied to us," Kyori said, with a frown. "He's been a teacher at UA for five years and he always expels someone. Last year, he expelled his entire class because he decided they weren't good enough for him. I dunno why, but at the last minute he changed his mind and said the 'logical ruse' bit instead."

"That can't be!" said the tall guy with glasses, making a weird chopping motion. "Our teacher wouldn't lie to us!"

"But he just did," Kyori replied, shrugging. "Even if I'm wrong and he really wasn't going to expel someone, he did say he would, and he had us believing it. So, either he lied to us at the beginning of the test, or at the end of it."

The bespectacled by spluttered, but even a strait-laced type like him couldn't deny that. Kyori glanced towards the retreating figure of Midoriya, the boy she was sure Eraserhead was going to kick out. Why hadn't he? There was nothing impressive about him – his Quirk might have been dramatic, but he had poor control over it and not much to offer when he wasn't using it. And judging by that Bakugou guy's reaction, even a feat like managing to throw the ball like that wasn't characteristic of him. So…

"Hey, well, at least we're all still here!" Kaminari said, with a cheerful grin and another boy with plain features chuckled.

"Yeah! Even if the suspense was pretty intense."

"Well…maybe he just saw potential in all of us!" Uraraka said, as everyone else began filing back into the building.

"Or maybe someone pulled some strings for him." Kyori muttered darkly under her breath.

She felt scarlet eyes on her as Bakugou swung his head around to look in her direction, but she wasn't sure if he'd heard her and he didn't say anything – he just shouldered past the ground and walked ahead.

But somehow, the look made her shiver anyway.

* * *

"Ma? I'm home!" Kyori called as she walked into the house.

Silence. Kyori sighed and toed off her shoes in the entryway, before stepping into the light, airy hallway. Now that the first day was over, she felt a sensation that was not quite a headache, but it was like a weight had settled over her. She'd passed the first hurdle, but she felt more fatigued than celebratory. But she did want to tell her mother about the day…

"Kyori?"

Following the voice, Kyori stepped into the kitchen to see Mayuu, who was busily preparing dinner, her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. While technically Mayuu was hired to help around the house, her job had evolved into much more than that in the Aida household. Being a Pro hero was a demanding job, after all, let alone while you were a single mother, so Mayuu's job was both to keep the house tidy and she also waited for Kyori when she came home from school, or at least, she had when Kyori was younger. The older Kyori got, the more hours Kiatsu worked, so some months Kyori tended to see Mayuu more than she did how own mother. And, if she was being honest, she was much easier to talk to.

Of course, that was liable to change now Kyori was in high school, but she figured that was a conversation for another day.

"Hey, how was your first day?" Mayuu asked, her deft hands preparing some gyoza – pork, Kyori's favourite kind.

"We have Eraserhead for our homeroom teacher," Kyori reported, and in the privacy of her home she could let her antipathy show, "Ma told me he's a real ballbuster. She wasn't wrong."

Mayuu laughed at that and a small smile flickered at the corners of Kyori's mouth – she liked it when she got Mayuu to laugh.

"And what about your classmates?" Mayuu asked, setting the gyoza on a little tray.

"Some of them have pretty strong Quirks," Kyori replied, Shouto Todoroki, Momo Yaoyorozu and Katsuki Bakugou's popping into head mind. "But otherwise it seems like a real mixed bag, I can't really say for sure who is the best at what based off one day. There was one boy who couldn't even- "

"Do they seem nice?" Mayuu interrupted.

"- I guess?" Kyori said, her train of thought abruptly coming to a halt at the interruption. "Nobody got expelled anyway, so this might be a stronger class than before. Maybe."

She was still unwilling to let her theory about the Midoriya kid having friends in high places drop – it seemed the most plausible, but Mayuu was sighing.

"Kyori, I wasn't asking about a collection of statistics. They're people and you're going to be learning alongside them for the next three years. Don't you think you should take advantage of this opportunity?"

Kyori stiffened a bit. She knew what direction Mayuu was going with this and she didn't want to talk about it again.

"Mayuu- "

"This is your chance to make some new friends!" Mayuu said, the dreaded words, growing more animated even as Kyori stared at her. "I know that things didn't go well for you before, and of course it's important to focus on your studies, but- "

Kyori slid off the chair at the kitchen island. She'd already heard this speech before and Mayuu's enthusiasm only made it worse. Memories threatened to come to the surface of her mind and she gave her heard a little shake, as if to dispel them.

"I need to get ready for tomorrow," Kyori said, which was true, but not in the usual way of homework and practicing her Quirk. "Call me when dinner's ready, okay?"

Mayuu looked like she wanted to say more, but Kyori vanished in a flicker, reappearing on the stairs before disappearing into the sanctuary of her room.

She flopped onto her bed, looking up at the ceiling. Her room was in the attic and she liked to track the slow path of the sun through her skylights as the day wore on. But…Mayuu didn't get it. This was what Kyori had been aiming for since her Quirk had emerged, what had kept her going through difficult times. She wasn't going to U.A to make friends, especially not with a bunch of people who would most likely be her direct competition once they all graduated. No. She'd learned from her past mistakes. She had one foot in the door, now she just had to make sure not to fall, not to falter, and hopefully…

_I came this far._ Kyori thought to herself. _But I've still got a long way to go yet._

Plus Ultra.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter is a bit on the late side, life got unexpectedly busy these last few months. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

That morning, Kyori woke up with bedhead and the memory of a scoreboard flickering overhead, announcing the fates of her and her classmates.

_"By the way, I lied about the expulsion. It was a logical ruse, to bring out the fullest potential of your Quirks!"_

Kyori scowled.

She didn't buy that story about Eraserhead only trying to trick them. It seemed like something he'd made up on the fly, because he'd backed himself into a corner without knowing it, but what mattered was who or what had convinced the usually brutal Eraserhead to go back on his word. Midoriya Izuku had been in last place, so was somebody pulling strings to ensure that he stayed put? Or was it another student that was being protected and Eraserhead had just added the rule because people would ask why that student had been expelled and not the lowest ranking one?

She shook her head as she went about getting dressed. She was probably overthinking it, but it seemed...shady.

Kiatsu had gotten home late last night, so Kyori hadn't had much chance to talk to her about what had gone on that day and after she worked night shifts, she tended to sleep late. So Kyori was surprised when she stumbled into the kitchen to see her mother drinking coffee.

For a moment, Kyori just stood there, watching her. She couldn't help it, any more than a random person in the street could. Kiatsu had that effect on people - something to do with her height, maybe, or her confidence, or her figure, all long legs and a tiny waist. Or maybe it was that famous Galaxy hair - long, black and actually glittering like a night sky, which was presumably where she'd gotten her Pro name from. Not a day went by that Kyori didn't rue the fact she hadn't inherited that hair, though perhaps it was more an effect of her mother's Quirk than genetics. It shimmered like a banner in the morning sunlight, swaying as if buffeted by a constant breeze.

"You're up early." Kyori said, clearing her throat as she reached to grab one of her nutrition bars, though she had to get on her tiptoes to do so without tipping the entire box onto herself.

"Mm?" Kiatsu turned, offering her daughter a smile. "Ah, well, unfortunately I have a meeting with some people mid-afternoon, so I wanted to see you off as well. Kill two birds with one stone."

She tilted her head, looking at Kyori in her new UA uniform. No doubt it seemed like a short time ago that Kyori had been putting on an elementary school uniform instead. Kiatsu eyed the clock beside the fridge.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?"

"No, that's okay," Kyori replied, her back to her mother as she spoke.

Her mother having a meeting was a convenient enough reason for her to say no - Kyori understood Kiatsu worked the hours she did because it paid the bills, but also because a Pro shouldn't let their personal life get in the way of their duties. But secretly, the notion of getting a ride to school with the famous Galaxy, watching her step out of the car and dazzling everyone in sight, while Kyori slunk out awkwardly behind her...well, it filled her with a particular dread that most teenagers felt in the core of their being.

Kiatsu gave an approving nod at this, draining the last of her coffee.

"Good. You don't want to always rely on me, Kyori, because in this career, you have to fight your way up the ladder alone to be taken seriously. Just don't get distracted and then run to make up time - you want to be ready and energised for the next test."

"I know, Ma," Kyori said, just a trace of annoyance in her tone now. It was the type of lecture she was used to hearing by now and while she knew her mother was only trying to help, it did rankle her a little that it didn't occur to Kiatsu that Kyori might have already thought of that herself.

Kiatsu didn't pick up on it, however, giving Kyori's head and affectionate ruffle, her fingers toying with that one strand of hair that Kyori could never quite make lie flat, no matter what she did to smooth it down.

"Maybe it's time for a haircut soon," Kiatsu hummed.

Kyori instantly stepped back, resisting the urge to bat the hand away. Instead, she just stuffed the nutrition bar into her pocket and hefted her bag onto her shoulder, throwing her mother a glance as she left, offering only a short explanation about her sudden departure.

"I don't want to be late."

* * *

Kyori was braced for another outpouring of enthusiasm from her classmates again, though she still winced as she approached at the loud volume of their chattering.

_At least let a girl finish her morning coffee._ she thought to herself.

True, it was only cheap coffee from vending machine, but Kyori had been drinking the stuff since middle school - it happened sort of by accident, one night she was cramming for a test and wanted so desperately to stay awake that she'd snuck downstairs and stole some of her mom's. She passed the test that afternoon and it had become something of a habit for her to reach for some whenever she felt like her sleep could wait. She hadn't had the best last night, so she figured she'd allow herself crappy vending machine coffee just this once - though with how tough UA was, she wasn't sure if she could hold herself to that promise.

Anyway, it was a myth that coffee stunted your growth.

She tossed the empty cup, took a breath and headed inside to start her second day at UA. This time they had more of a chance to actually explore the building, knowing they weren't in immediate danger of being tossed out on their ear.

Funnily enough, in many ways the school was a lot like a normal one. Obviously you had classmates with amazing Quirks, prestigious backgrounds, high ambition or all of the above, so the school was top of the line, but the classes were familiar in some ways and it was admittedly a relief that not everything was so new and overwhelming. But all that went out the door when her first class of the afternoon began.

Hero Basic Training.

"I am here! Coming through the door like a hero!"

And there he was. All Might. The Symbol of Peace, bane of Villains everywhere and seller of many an action hero. Hell, Kyori knew one kid from her middle school that had All Might briefs. (She knew that because he'd been hung by the guttering by them once as a prank. Boys.) Seeing him in person was something of a shock, even if it was a surprisingly dorky exit for such a respected Pro. Yet a smile tugged at her lips when she thought that nobody was watching.

"Whoa! It's All Might!" shouted Kaminari, excitedly and it seemed the whole class concurred.

"He really does teach here!" Kirishima said.

"That's a costume from the Silver Age, isn't it?" Tsuyu said, finger to her cheek.

All Might marched in with that famous, beaming grin on his face. It looked to Kyori almost like he was posing as he walked, though in the face of such adoration, she couldn't blame him for preening just a little bit.

"I teach Hero Basic Training!" All Might announced, hands on his hips. "It is a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero. You'll take the most units of this subject! Let's get right to it! This is what we'll do today – Combat training!"

The class visibly bristled with excitement and All Might swept a hand theatrically towards the wall, where panels pushed their way out of it. Kyori's smile widened a bit – UA really knew how to use their tech to the best possible advantage.

"Your costumes based on your Quirk registration and requests submitted before you started school!" All Might boomed. "After you change, gather in Ground Beta!"

The class answered as one.

"Yes, sir!"

Outside, the day was as bright and sunny as All Might's smile as he stood waiting for the class, no doubt curious to see what kind of outfits they'd picked out. Sometimes students had costumes their adult selves would cringe about for years to come, but other times they proved to be surprisingly stylish.

"They say clothes make the man, young men and ladies!" All Might said as he watched his class file out, dressed in their new gear for the first time. "Remember, starting from now…you are heroes!"

His grin was wide as he observed them all, standing there and looking back at him with those expectant, determined expressions. He could tell, just with a look, that this was going to be one heck of a bunch to watch.

"That's great, everyone! You all look so good! Now, shall we begin, you bunch of newbies?"

"Wow! You guys look so cool!"

The enthusiastic outburst came from Mina, speaking to Jirou and Momo. Jirou, who was dressed in punky clothing that she looked very much at home in, cut a glance in Momo's direction.

"Don't you feel a bit…exposed?" she asked.

"It's fine," Momo replied, seemingly oblivious to just how much of her skin was on display, or maybe she just didn't feel uncomfortable when discussing it with other girls. "I need to have some of my skin available to me at all times for my Quirk to work. The stomach is the most convenient."

"You look good too, Ashido," Kyori offered – Mina's outfit was definitely eye-catching, but not in a way that it clashed with her pink skin or black-and-yellow eyes. "Very, um, lively."

"Hehe! This look was all the rage back in the day!" Mina grinned, pirouetting. "Oh, but call me Mina, okay? We are classmates, after all!"

"Oh, sure…" Kyori replied, blinking. "If you want me to?"

"Your outfit looks practical, which is good," Jirou told Kyori, giving a small, decisive nod. "I'd hate to design a flashy one and then find out I could barely move in it."

Kyori looked down at her Pro costume, which admittedly wasn't the flashiest of them - her Quirk meant that her strengths were getting in with quick hits and then retreating again, so she'd designed it to be aerodynamic. She didn't want to end up with a skintight bodysuit, though, as they often weren't very durable, and she'd heard they could chafe like a bitch if they weren't fitted right.

So, hers was basically a short-sleeved, tight black bodysuit that ended somewhere mid-thigh. She had pockets and a belt for gadgets, the latter of which was a bright, almost neon blue. It matched her knee-high boots (which had just a bit of a heel - not so high they would be hard to run or move in, but...well, she could use any extra height she could.) and the vertical stripes that ran down either side of her costume. The costume she had this year was likely to change anyway, she'd have to try and make up for weaknesses that were slowing her down with tweaks, but overall she thought her team had done a decent job.

Still, as she looked around at the group, she couldn't help but feel like she could have been a bit more...daring. Added a few cool gadgets or given herself a symbol or something. Maybe she'd overdone thinking about practicalities.

_Kinda looks like some people didn't think about that at all. _she thought, eyeing some of the more unfortunate costumes. Was that purple haired kid wearing a metal _diaper?!_

She was drawn out of her critique of unfortunate fashion disasters, though, when All Might began speaking again.

"Now, it's time for combat training-" All Might began, but the words had barely left his mouth when Iida interrupted.

"Sensei!"

He began peppering All Might with questions and Kyori rolled her eyes as All Might stared at Iida, growing somewhat flustered by the zealousness of his first-year student.

_Maybe if you shut up and let him talk, he'd cover this before you needed to ask._ Kyori thought. _Kiss-ass._

"Teams and opponents will be determined by drawing lots!" All Might said, enthusiastically holding up a yellow box. "The first team to fight will be…"

And so it went, All Might announcing teams and who would fight each other. Midoriya Izuku and Uraraka Ochako were first, against Iida Tenya and Bakugou Katsuki. Kyori couldn't help but be glad not to be involved in that one – she had a feeling the conflict going on between Midoriya and Bakugou was just asking to bubble up over the next few weeks. She'd know. But her team was…

"Kyori Aida and Ojiro vs Todoroki Shouto and Mezou Shouji!" All Might said. "And the teams are..."

Kyori glanced across the group at Todoroki, who was looking ahead with indifference on his face. Well, what reason did he have to have any other expression? Kyori knew very well who he was - the son of Endeavour and presumably heir to Endeavor's flame Quirk. And she'd seen him throw up that path of ice during the test Eraserhead had given them like it was nothing.

"Match Two! Team B are the Heroes, Team I are the Heroes!"

The two teams filed out of the monitor room, Kyori and Ojiro going first and heading into the building, thankfully not the one that Bakugou had been rampaging around in like an angry rhinoceros. But the pristine state of the building didn't make Kyori feel any better about who she was facing. They were at a disadvantage already. Kyori touched her index finger to her lips as she thought, knowing that she had a limited time to get this right. But Todoroki Shouto would have an offensive Quirk, given his parentage - a Hero would use it to storm the building right away. She didn't think Ojiro would be much use against a long-range combatant.

"Aida-san?" Ojiro said, looking over at Kyori as she stood there. "What should we do?"

"...Stall them," Kyori said, more to herself than to Ojiro.

"Huh?"

"We're at a disadvantage by going up against Todoroki," she explained, rapid-fire. "I don't think a full-on confrontation is going to do us any good if he can just freeze us to the spot, so the better option is to try to run down the clock, assuming that the other kid will hang back while Todoroki launches an attack on us or the building. You wouldn't want to get caught up in friendly fire. Or ice, I guess."

Ojiro blinked, then gave his head a little shake.

"But, how will we stall them if we're bracing for a full attack?" he asked. "I can fight, but..."

"That's good," Kyori said, pressing a hand to the bomb prop. "Todoroki will probably come after me, so focus on the other guy."

"Wait, what are you-?"

The claxon sounded and Kyori didn't wait for Ojiro to keep asking her questions. Instead she concentrated, the familiar tingling feeling sweeping over her body, before both she and the bomb vanished in a flicker of green, leaving Ojiro behind in the empty room with a small sound of alarm at both his exercise partner and the only thing decorating the room winking into nothingness.

Kyori reappeared moments later with the bomb on the top floor of the building. Theoretically Todoroki could still us his ice Quirk to freeze it and thus neutralise the bomb, but until he'd physically touched it himself, he still hadn't won.

Kyori absently gave the bomb a pat before she walked out of the room, which was just as empty as the one she'd just left, looking around for anything she could use to block the stairs - if Todoroki used his ice to freeze the building, then it would be that much harder for him to smash his way through the place if he'd frozen everything to the spot.

_You might be Endeavour's son,_ she thought, violet eyes sharp with determination. _But I'm Galaxy's daughter. I won't let anybody walk all over me._

* * *

"One in the room on the north side of the fourth floor," Shouji reported through one of the mouths he'd spawned with his Quirk. "One on the very top floor, furthest away from the corridor."

"Stay outside," Todoroki told Shouji, his breath already escaping his mouth in a plume of vapour. "It's dangerous."

So, one had stayed to fight while the other had retreated? Were they planning on some kind of sneak-attack? Well, either way, it'd be pointless. Todoroki rested his palm on the wall and concentrated. Not a moment later, ice swept up the wall in a wave of sparkling white, the entire building suddenly sparkling with frost. Unbothered by the dramatic drop in temperature, Todoroki crunched over the ice and entered the room Shouji had said, where he found…

Ojiro Mashirao, but no Aida Kyori, or any nuclear weapon. Ojiro threw up a defensive stance when he saw Todoroki, but the boy was already turning to look at the stairs.

"So, she teleported with it, did she?" he asked. Well, it's what he would have done, had their situations been reversed. "Fine."

He glanced at Ojiro, though he didn't confirm or deny it either way. A slight smirk curved Todoroki's mouth.

"I wouldn't bother moving, or you'll rip the skin off the bottoms of your feet."

Ojiro grunted, his tail lashing, but there wasn't much he could do. Had Aida predicted this? He watched helplessly as Todoroki left the room, and he couldn't even leave to search for his teammate. Not that he needed to – he was lucky to be outside.

Todoroki approached the top of the stairs, ice streaming from his mouth, only to see the way being blocked by doors. They looked like they'd been put there in great haste, but he didn't see any damage done to them. And thanks to his ice encasing everything, the doors might as well have been rocks in the way.

"Tch."

Well. This was a little irritating, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Resting his palm on the frozen doors, he waited, steam hissing from the minute gap between his hand and the metal. Soon, the ice began to melt away, water dribbling down the walls-

What he wasn't expecting was his five feet tall classmate to suddenly appear above him out of thin air, her foot swinging down at his head.

He reacted instinctively, a gigantic icicle erupting from the ground between them to block her oncoming attack, throwing up an arm to cover his face. Kyori's foot hit solid ice and she grunted, using her strength to push herself off and land clumsily onto the floor, but at least she was still on her feet. She didn't know what the counter timing this test was on, but if she teleported with the bomb again -

She swore under her breath and dodged as more spiky icicles jumped up at her feet, and Todoroki advanced further into the room, his left eye glowing red like something out of a horror movie. She needed to get to the bomb to teleport it to another room – if it were smaller she could do it without touching it, but big objects like this were too difficult. Someday she hoped to overcome this, but-

"Sorry, but I'm not about to lose this," Todoroki said, calmly, and Kyori's eyes widened as the temperature plummeted dramatically – it was suddenly so cold that her skin broke out in goosebumps and shivering swept over her entire body.

He continued to march towards the nuclear bomb, undeterred by the sheet of ice at his feet that would have a normal person slipping all over the place, but Kyori didn't need to be able to run in order to move. In another wink of green, she vanished and reappeared instantly before the bomb, her hands held out to shove him back-

Only for Todoroki's right hand to slam right next to her head. Kyori's violet eyes widened as Todoroki loomed close, and heat immediately engulfed her as he activated the other half of his Quirk. As the ice in the room melted away, leaving the floor shimmering with water, they just stared at each other soundlessly for a few seconds, until the claxon sounded, startling them both.

"Hero Team wins!" All Might's voice boomed over the loudspeaker. "Hurry back here and we'll go over your results!"

Kyori's stomached lurched. It was only a test, she knew that, but the disappointment that reared up in her chest couldn't be calmed by logic. Todoroki looked at her for a moment as if he wanted to say something, but whatever it was stayed locked behind his mouth as he turned and walked out of the room, leaving her with a fake nuclear bomb and a feeling like she'd failed a different kind of test altogether.

"Well then!" All Might said, as the teams shuffled back into the Monitor Room. "Can anyone tell me why Team B- ah, yes, Yaoyorozu-san?"

"Yes, sir." Momo said, before inhaling. Nobody looked surprised she was speaking up again, given how thoroughly she'd dissected the previous fight.

"Aida-san acted on information she'd gathered on the enemy from previous encounters and used that to try and win via endurance," Momo said, reciting her critique with confident and poise, as though she knew it by heart. "It was a good strategy, given Todoroki-san's offensive capabilities and that's why it was such a close match. However, she didn't ask Ojiro-san for his opinion and took off on her own, which could have backfired if he had been forced to confront both Todoroki-san and Ojiro-san alone."

Kyori kept her face blank, though internally she winced a bit. Momo wasn't wrong in anything she said and it was admittedly kind of embarrassing that she'd been so focused on doing well in her test that she'd actually kind of forgotten all about Ojiro and Shouji.

"Todoroki-san immediately put the enemy at a disadvantage by using his Quirk to incapacitate them, without damaging either his teammate or the weapon. However, in his determination to reach Aida-san after she unexpectedly outmaneuvered him, his Quirk began to get more destructive and a little sloppy, as any of those icicles could have hit her."

Kyori thought about the icicle that had erupted from the ground after she kicked him, inches from piercing her leg with its sharp tip and sucked in her bottom lip, chewing on it. It was only an exercise and accidents happened, but the thought of being impaled left her feeling numb. She tuned out the rest of the critique, since neither Shouji or Ojiro had actually done all that much during the test.

What did All Might think of her now? Was his opinion neutral, since it was just a test, or was he already looking at her as an inferior version of her mother? (She had no doubt the teachers were aware of her parentage, even if Kiatsu hadn't used her influence to suggest her as a recommended student) Or was it a sense of pitying admiration that she'd tried her best against a recommended student, only to fail anyway?

"Let's move onto the third match!" All Might boomed, and the next group stepped up.

And so it went, though Kyori noticed that none of the matches had reached the same scale of destructiveness that Bakugou and Midoriya's had, nor lasted as long as hers and Todoroki's. She glanced at him again, but he appeared to be indifferent to winning. Bakugou had been almost completely silent since he returned from the training grounds and Kyori, surprisingly, thought that maybe she knew how he felt.

She watched the other matches dutifully, mostly because if she observed how her classmates acted in teams now, it would help her out when she was inevitably put with them in the future and she wouldn't make the same mistake of ignoring her teammates, but inwardly she hoped that not everything in UA would be _too_ group focused. Everybody had to learn to get by on their own and if there was one thing she knew she was good at, that would be it.

"Hm? Kyori-chan, what's with the gloomy face?"

Kyori glanced at Jirou, who had just come out of her match with Kaminari. She was a little surprised at being approached, but gave her head a shake.

"I was just thinking about how I should have just teleported to the floor below instead of trying to fight Todoroki hand-to-hand," she said, with a shrug. "It was stupid to take him head-on."

"Hey, if I'd been up against him, I don't know what I would have done," Jirou replied with a snort. "Except listen for the ice closing in on me, I guess. You didn't even lose by that much."

"Yeah, but I still lost." Kyori couldn't stop herself saying.

"Sheesh, you're a pessimist, aren't you?" Jirou said, but there was an amused smirk on her face. "Are you like this when you lose at board games, too?"

"Oh, absolutely. Once I got checkmated in chess and I almost had a mental breakdown," Kyori replied with a sarcastic smile, and both of them laughed.

_Wait, what am I doing?_

Before the conversation could continue further, the claxon sounded again, and it was the end of the Class 1-A matches. Kyori was surprised by just how fast the day had gone, it was nearing sunset when they trudged back to the changing rooms.

"Man, that was fun!" Mina said with a grin as she tugged on her skirt. "It's weird to be so active during a school day like this!"

"I wonder if every day is going to be so noisy, ribbit," Tsuyu agreed, obviously thinking of that first match. It probably wouldn't leave anybody's mind anytime soon.

Kyori was quiet as she changed, lingering a bit as everyone else went back to the classroom. She needed a minute to go over things in her head – she was right about what she'd said to Jirou earlier, she shouldn't have engaged in a one-on-one. Why did she jump in like that?

Well, no point in beating yourself up, I guess. She thought, gloomily. Something new will probably do that for you tomorrow.

As she headed up the stairwell, though, someone passed her who was obviously in an even deeper state of self-flagellation than she was. Though she knew it that if it was her who had suffered such a blow to her ego as Bakugou had today, she wouldn't be in the mood to talk either, the words slipped out unbidden from her mouth anyway.

"You're leaving?"

Bakugou stopped walking, though he didn't turn to look at her.

"Got a problem with that?" he growled, his shoulders hunching further, like the arching back of an angry cat.

"No," Kyori said – saying nothing was clearly the smart option here.

But like with Todoroki, she got the impression that Bakugou too was about to say something to her – he was watching her out of the corner of his eye with that stormy scowl on his face, but he was gritting his jaw in a way that made it seem like he was going to yell something, or at the very least bark another question at her. Then, he scoffed.

_"Che."_

Kyori kept walking, but she watched him walking away anyway, his blonde hair lit up by the setting sun, but his shoulders dipped like the world was weighing down on him. Kyori knew that whatever he was feeling, he'd brought it on himself and that her sympathies should be with Midoriya, who had been rushed off, yet again, to see Recovery Girl.

Yet somehow, as she watched Bakugou vanish down the stairwell, he looked to Kyori like the loneliest person in the world.

When she got upstairs and witnessed her classmates eavesdropping on the argument between the two boys (though it was hard to call it eavesdropping when you couldn't actually hear anything), it wasn't what they might be saying that had Kyori's attention. No, she was watching as All Might appeared like a great red comet to speak to Bakugou, hands on his shoulders, perhaps comforting him about the match? Bakugou's reaction was predictable enough and even the Number One Pro backed off at the sight of that glare (which made Kyori feel a little better – at least she wasn't just being a coward). He spoke to Midoriya too, laughing heartily, but…

_He checked on Midoriya earlier too, didn't he?_ Kyori thought, watching the way All Might laughed at the boy, who somehow looked even more nervous than usual. _And Midoriya's costume is modelled after All Might, too._

Midoriya, All Might, and Bakugou. A curious puzzle, indeed.

* * *

Yes, Kyori has an ahoge. If you don't know what that is, it's a strand of hair that sticks up and in Japan it's associated with childish, carefree or mischievious characters. So naturally Kyori hates it because it doesn't match her at all. Heh.


End file.
